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An electronic circular of the Coalition's Center for Rehabilitation and Recovery
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No. 71, May 2011
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The Center for Rehabilitation and Recovery provides assistance
to the New York City mental health provider community through
expert trainings, focused technical assistance, evaluation,
information dissemination and special projects.
THE DIRECTOR’S NEW YORK MINUTE The Birds and the Bees By Courtenay M. Harding, PhD Spring is here and love is in the air. But somehow, systems of care (be they nursing homes or behavioral health agencies) mostly ignore human sexuality and pretend it doesn’t exist. People are often considered to be “too old,” or “too confused,” or “too ill with a diagnosis of severe mental problems” ad infinitum. Yet people are people with the same natural emotions and urges and desires as everyone else. There are few classes on how to get a date; what to do when you have one; how to deal with the accompanying feelings of anxiety, acceptance or rejection; how to communicate deeply felt wishes and desires; how to have safe sex; and what to do if there is a problem? Why is there a neglect of such an important area of life? Yet, human need for connection to another is keenly felt even among people with schizophrenia, who often have troubles with social skills and often feel unloved and unwanted. Underneath the fabric of the everydayness of clinical treatment and group therapy, of clubhouse “work-ordered” days, of community meetings, there are networks of people helping one another, listening to one another, and caring for one another and falling in love or lust for some but not availablefor others. Clinicians sometimes see it out of the corner of their eye but ignore it. However, it is the human condition and it is time to pay attention. Such a focus might provide more richly rewarding experiences, better matches between individuals, safer sex, and reduced collateral damages. Finding a significant other is many people’s life goal. Perhaps our systems could enhance the process for more successful outcomes? A curriculum is being developed to focus on these issues for PROS and other programs. A life goal is followed by figuring out the obstacles getting in the way which could be considered a “medical necessity.” Unloved people feel both emotional and physical pain as well as loss of hope. Interventions for the Individual Recovery Plan (IRP) such as basic living skills and social skills training (1-6) and community exploration with the existence now of on-line dating sites and numerous free events offered in the city, allow such a person to develop and grow and perhaps achieve his or her secret dream of a fuller and richer life for the self. For all of these reasons, our Center is developing a curriculum (6) for PROS agencies and others, to help people under care relearn enough social skills to boost their chances to find a significant other and have some fun in their lives. As the old Cole Porter song proclaims: “And that’s why birds do it, bees do it, even educated fleas do it. Let’s do it, let’s fall in love.” (7) Resources 1) Penn, D..L., Roberts, D.L., Combs, D., Sterne, A.: The development of the social cognition and interaction training program for schizophrenia spectrum disorders. Psychiatric Services, 56 (4):449-451, 2007. “Oooh Child, Things Are Gonna Get Easier”
By Susan Blayer Growing up in the 70s, I remember singing the lyrics of that song, “Oooh Child,” by the Five Stairsteps, to myself when I felt down and confused. Oooh Child, things are gonna get easier. Oooh child, things will get brighter. It made me feel less alone, like maybe there were other kids out there needing a message of comfort and hope. May 3rd is National Children’s Mental Health Awareness Day, and my thoughts turn to those children who still need that message, the comforting, hope. In particular, my heart aches for the group we nowadays call “transition-age youth”. Those youngsters, anywhere from the age of 16 to 25 years-old, are caught in the gap between being children and adulthood. SAMHSA’s website promoting National Children’s Mental Health Awareness day informs us, “Studies on the brain show that physical, emotional, or sexual abuse in childhood can cause permanent damage, reduce the size of parts of the brain, impact the way a child’s brain copes with daily stress, and can result in enduring problems such as depression, anxiety, aggression, impulsiveness, delinquency, hyperactivity, and substance abuse. With help from families, providers, and the community, young children can demonstrate resilience when dealing with trauma.” Although it has yet to be proven that those changes are permanent, as neuroplasticity is quite remarkable, such children have a lot to overcome. So what about those “adult children,” youth doing the best they can with these behavioral health barriers?. A growing number of social service providers share that they feel this group is “falling through the cracks.” Their communities and society-at-large generally expect them to be self-sufficient, asking them to take responsibility for their homelessness, their under-educated and unemployed status. Many of these individuals have little family connection or support. Many have not gotten adequate care for their mental health needs, often lingering from unresolved childhood trauma, still all too raw. Several have turned to drugs and alcohol to self-medicate some of the pain. Others engage in dangerous behaviors, such as re-creating familiar patterns of violence from their families of origin, or prostitution to make enough money to survive. Such behaviors tend to lead to incarcerations rather than programs of rehabilitation. Statistics quantify some of these field observations: half of all lifetime cases of mental and substance use disorders begin by age 14 and three-fourths by age 24.(1) In 2009, transition age youth aged 18 to 25 had the highest rates of binge drinking (41.7 percent) and heavy alcohol use (13.7 percent) of any age group.(2) A survey published in 2009 by the National Coalition of Homelessness found that mental health problems are the third leading cause of homelessness among unaccompanied youth seeking help. (3) A 2008 OMH report stated, “Studies indicate that youth in the juvenile justice system are more likely to be diagnosed with SED (20%) than youth in the general population (9-13%).24 OCFS found that in 2003, 53% of young people entering placement facilities needed mental health services, and the NYC Department of Juvenile Justice (DJJ) reported that 67% of detained youth received mental health services in 2007. NYC and NYS law enforcement, courts and corrections agencies struggle to meet the needs of these individuals” (4) Similarly, NYC mental health providers seem to be struggling to serve transition-age youth in their adult programs. There is an increasing need for services specifically targeted to engage this demographic, designed to address their particular developmental and social issues. It is difficult not to notice the escalating undercurrent of hopelessness. Ooh child, things will get brighter. Someday, yeah, we’ll walk in the rays of the beautiful sun. Someday when our head is much lighter. Someday, when our city is not facing an economic crisis. Someday, when mental health services are not being cut. Yet right now, as difficult as it may be, we can start with something basic, yet essential to recovery-- finding hope and instilling it in our youth. We can listen deeply to their stories and collaborate to find options, to keep them moving forward, to help them voice their needs and have them be heard. It may sound cliché, but if we give up on the young, we are giving up on our future. Resources for transition- age youth:
Resources
Center News
Take a look at our trainers in action! Aaron Vieira (above) and participants in our new training, Guiding the Group: Advanced Methods. The Center’s 3-day Benefits Management training, led by Ed Lopez (below) is one of our most popular. The Center Participates in Mental Health Association of Westchester’s Annual Conference MHA's 31st Annual Ira Stevens Conference, co-sponsored by The Westchester County Department of Community Mental Health, is entitled, “Transforming Mental Health Services Through Health Care Reform.” Dr. Michael Hogan, OMH Commissioner, and Center Director Dr. Courtenay Harding, will be amongst the speakers. Workshops topics include: “Person-Centered Integrated Care for People with Complex Needs Documentation for Case Management/Care Coordination,” “ Alternatives to Inpatient Hospitalization,” “Models of Health Homes,” and “20 Ways to Overcome Barriers to Recovery.” The conference will take place on Thursday, May 26, 2011, from 9:00 am to 5:00 pm at The County Center in White Plains, NY. For more information, contact Chuck Rosenow at [email protected] . To register, go to: http://www.nycharities.org/events/EventLevels.aspx?ETID=3479 CALL TO PROVIDERS--Post Your Open Peer Position on our Peer Job Board: http://www.coalitionny.org/the_center/jobs/ Note: If you are typing the URL in your browser, the space between “the” and “center” is in reality an underscore symbol “_”.
Inspiring Stories and Recovery Research: Hope and Resilience for Staff This popular half-day training will provide evidence from the eleven long-term studies of serious and persistent psychiatric problems, which revealed that most people can significantly improve and many even recover over time. The stories about how staff participated in helping people reclaim their lives inspire us all. Dr. Courtenay Harding will show that hope, temperament, and human resilience of both staff and consumers all play roles in the recovery process. Facilitator: Courtenay Harding, PH.D Register now » Hurry, seats fill quickly! Center Training Schedule Available on Website Now you can plan ahead to attend upcoming Center trainings. Our calendar is now available for you to view and print from our website. Please go to: http://www.coalitionny.org/the_center/training/ and click on link to the right entitled, “Winter/Spring Schedule, 2011” to see what we have to offer. Note: If you are typing the URL in your browser, the space between “the” and “center” is in reality an underscore symbol “_”.
The Coalition’s Professional Learning Center Training: Skills Building in Residential Programs This interactive workshop is designed to address their specific needs for tools, curriculum and a formal process for implementing skill building activities in both group and individual modalities. Skill building is used to assist individuals in treatment to manage their symptoms, to function better in the day to day environment, to become more adept and efficacious at managing their own care, and to eventually move to less restrictive treatment environments. Date: May 9, 2011 NYS OMH SafeTALK and ASIST Trainings for Suicide Prevention The Suicide Prevention Center of NY and the NYS Office of Mental Health Suicide Prevention Initiative will hold free SafeTALK and ASIST trainings upstate during the month of May. For registration information contact [email protected]. An additional training will be held in New York City. To attend this training, please contact Silvia at [email protected]. NYC DOHMH Mental Health Planning Forum The NYC Department of Health and Mental Hygiene invites you to participate in a mental health planning forum to discuss potential system goals and priorities to improve the City’s mental health service system. It will be an opportunity to share suggestions, discuss unmet needs and highlight priorities for 2012. Mental health peers, families, service providers and other stakeholders from the Bronx, Manhattan, Queens, Brooklyn and Staten Island are encouraged to attend, but seating is limited. This forum will be focused on the adult mental health system, but all comments are welcome. The meeting format will be public testimonies (three minutes per individual or organization). If you would like to submit a testimony by email, please do so by 1pm on Wednesday, May 11 to [email protected] Date: May 11, 2011 Geriatric Mental Health Conference: Overcoming Obstacles and Seizing Opportunities The Geriatric Mental Health Alliance of New York will be holding its 5th Annual Conference, entitled, “Overcoming Obstacles and Seizing Opportunities.” The keynote speaker will discuss the many challenges that mental health providers face with the coming age wave, and how these challenges can provide opportunities to rethink how we deliver services, including implementation of pre-vention and early intervention strategies, use of technology, and engaging provider and social support net works. Informative and timely workshops will be offered, such as “Personalized Recovery Oriented Services: Where Do Older Adults Fit?” The cost of this conference is $170. Keynote Speaker: Frederic C. Blow, PhD, Professor and Director, Department of Psychiatry, University of Michigan Medical School May NYC Mental Health Film Festival Community Access and The New York Association of Psychiatric Rehabilitation Services present the 7th Annual NYC Mental Health Film Festival this month. This year’s theme will be, “The Mental Health Experience: Raw and Uncut.” Tickets are $5 in advance, $10 at the door. ICCD Clubhouse Model Listed as Evidence-Based Practice SAMHSA’s National Registry of Evidence-based Programs and Practices (NREPP) is a searchable online registry of more than 190 interventions supporting mental health promotion, substance abuse prevention, and mental health and substance abuse treatment. Their mission is to connect members of the public to intervention developers so they can learn how to implement these approaches in their communities. Recently, NREPP included The ICCD (International Center for Clubhouse Development) Clubhouse Model in the registry. ICCD Clubhouses are day treatment programs for rehabilitating adults diagnosed with a mental health problem. The goal of the programs is to contribute to the recovery of individuals through use of a therapeutic environment that includes responsibilities within the Clubhouse (e.g., clerical duties, reception, food service, transportation, financial services), as well as through outside employment, education, meaningful relationships, housing, and an overall improved quality of life. For more information, visit the NREPP site: http://www.nrepp.samhsa.gov/ViewIntervention.aspx?id=189 Person-Centered Care Planning Powerpoint Available for Download The Recovery to Practice (RTP) Live Meeting PowerPoint presentation and recording for the April 11th Webinar, “Step 2 in the Recovery-Oriented Care Continuum: Person-Centered Care Planning,” is now available for download from the RTP Resource Web page at: http://www.dsgonline.com/rtp/resources.html Mental Disorders and Medical Comorbidity
The Association for the Treatment of Tobacco Use and Dependence The Association for the Treatment of Tobacco Use and Dependence (ATTUD) has released, "Integrating Tobacco Treatment Within Behavioral Health," a report which reflects the change in mental health and addictions toward including smoking cessation in recovery. To view, go to: http://www.attud.org/pdf/ATTUD-position.pdf. FREE Wellness Brochures and Posters
To order or download these free materials, visit http://store.samhsa.gov/product/SMA10-4566 or call toll free 1-877-SAMHSA-7 (877-726-4727). |
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